


put your hand in mine

by badritual



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Accidental Dating, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Frenemies to friends to lovers, Getting Over Your Ex With Their Best Friend, Slow To Update, pov jughead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23511223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/pseuds/badritual
Summary: Senior year AU. Jughead and Veronica team up to win Homecoming Court and soothe their recently broken hearts. But could something more be on the horizon?
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge (past), Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones (past), Jughead Jones & Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	put your hand in mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The Jeronica Nation](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=The+Jeronica+Nation).



> I haven't been writing much lately but...this happened a little while ago and I found it in my WIP folder.
> 
> Title from "Prom Song (Gone Wrong)" by Lana Del Rey.

“ _Forsythe_.”

Jughead looks up from his laptop keyboard, mouth drawing into a frown at the familiar voice. There are exactly zero people in his life he lets call him that and only one person in the entirety of Riverdale who would even dare.

Not even Betty, over the course of their relationship, had called him Forsythe. In fact, he doesn’t think she ever even tried. 

“Veronica,” Jughead says, injecting some forced cheer into his tone as he snaps his laptop shut. “What can I do you for?”

Veronica rolls her eyes and brushes a sleek, raven-black lock of hair away from her forehead. “Crude,” she says, disapprovingly, “as usual.” 

Veronica slides the hood of her purple satin cape away from her face. Jughead would roll his eyes at the sheer pretentiousness of a _satin cape_ but, well. Pretentious is his middle name. 

“So. Forsythe?” he grumbles, reluctantly gesturing for her to join him. 

Veronica slides into the vinyl-cushioned booth across from him and shrugs the deep purple cape off her shoulders. “I knew it would get your attention,” she says, clasping her hands in front of her. The bangles on her bracelets scrape against the Formica tabletop unpleasantly. “I’m in need of your assistance.”

Now Jughead’s interest is piqued. He pushes his laptop away and props his chin in his hand. “Oh?”

Veronica pats at a glossy black pin-curl. “As you know, I’m in the running for Homecoming Queen this year,” she explains, trailing off slowly as if to leave Jughead to fill in the blanks. 

“Yeah, and? What would you need me for?” he asks, his mouth pulling down in a frown. 

“I was getting to that part,” she snaps. Regaining her composure, Veronica continues. “Since Archie and I have broken up and you and Betty have been more off than on lately, I was thinking you and I could team up together.”

“You want to enter the fray with me as your arm candy?” Jughead asks, unable to mask the disbelief coloring his tone. “Veronica—”

“I know, I know,” she says, waving a hand dismissively. “You and Betty are forever locked in that complex mating dance of yours and you’ll probably just—”

“No, it’s not that,” Jughead says. The thought of Betty is vaguely unpleasant, like the last remnants of a migraine; the worst of the pain has passed, but now his body’s sore and achey and he just wants to _not_. “Me and Betty are definitely off. But that’s not what I was getting at. I mean… I’m not exactly Homecoming court material.”

“Pish posh,” Veronica says, swatting him lightly on the shoulder. “I’ve seen you in a suit.”

Jugheas sighs and jabs his thumb into his eye, trying to rub away the beginnings of an actual migraine. “That’s not…” He lifts his head and forces himself to look Veronica squarely in the eyes. “The stuff with Betty is still raw. I don’t think I’d be good company.”

Veronica tilts her head, glossy black hair spilling over one shoulder like slowly spreading ink. She reaches out, catching Jughead’s hand before he can jerk it away. “You know I’m your friend too, right?” she says, her demeanor changing, the girlish façade slipping away. 

“You wanna have a sleepover? Put curlers in our hair, do our nails, and gossip about boys?” Jughead asks, more sardonically than is probably appropriate for the moment. He knows he really ought not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Most of the time he and Veronica clash, fingers curled into claws, probably because they’re more alike than either would like to admit. He softens his tone, just a smidge. “Like I said. Not really good company right now.”

“Like that’s ever stopped me from being your friend before,” Veronica scoffs, sliding her hand away from Jughead’s. 

He flexes his fingers and curls his now-empty hand on the tabletop in front of him. “I’d be offended if it weren’t true,” he admits. 

“So, how about it? It’d take your mind off the lovely Miss Cooper, for sure,” Veronica says, a flash of _wicked_ alighting her eyes and curving up the corners of her blood-red lips. 

Jughead’s mind flashes to Betty, his ex-girlfriend popping up in his mind like snapshots on a camera. It’s only been a few weeks, but he’s pretty certain she’s moved on, into the arms of another guy. It’d only be fair for Jughead to start looking elsewhere too. Betty isn’t the only one who gets to move on, is she?

Jughead doesn’t realize he’s spoken his thoughts out loud, until Veronica says, her tone laced with sympathy that tweaks Jughead’s still-aching heart:

“It’s not just a one-way street, you know. You get to move on, too. You don’t have to spend the rest of your life mourning a lost relationship.”

And Jughead knows Veronica means every last word. She’d been that grieving ex when Archie ended things the year before, too many complications and not enough… Well, Jughead had never found out what was lacking in Archie and Veronica’s relationship. For his part, Jughead had assumed the two would someday end up blissfully married with a brood of tiny, impeccably dressed mini-me’s.

“Thanks, Veronica,” he says, lifting his head, offering her what he hopes is a genuine smile. He hasn’t smiled since he and Betty split; he’s not sure he remembers how.

Veronica rolls her shoulders then, shaking off the vestiges of her loneliness and grief over losing Archie to snag Jughead’s hand in hers yet again.

Jughead inclines his head toward her and arches an eyebrow in question.

“Let’s find you an acceptable suit, Homecoming King,” is all she says in response.


End file.
